Abstract
Profound geopolitical changes have impacted the southern and eastern Mediterranean since 2010 and defined a context of instability that is still affecting several countries today. Insecurity combined with the reduction of border controls has led to major population movements in the region and to migration surges from affected countries to southern Europe, especially to Italy. To respond to the humanitarian emergency triggered by this migration surge, Italy implemented a syndromic surveillance system in order to rapidly detect potential public health emergencies in immigrant reception centres. This system was discontinued after two years. This paper presents the results of this experience detailing its strengths and weaknesses in order to document the applicability and usefulness of syndromic surveillance in this specific context.
Highlights
Historically a country of emigrants, has become the target of immigration only at the end of the 1970s
This paper presents the results of this activity and describes its strengths and weaknesses with the aim to document the applicability and usefulness of syndromic surveillance in this specific context
The Expected Daily Incidence (EDI) of each syndrome was measured against a threshold set at 99% confidence interval of the Observed Daily Incidence (ODI) using a Poisson distribution
Summary
Historically a country of emigrants, has become the target of immigration only at the end of the 1970s. A limited number of people migrated to Italy, mostly repatriates, housekeepers, and asylum seekers in transit to other European countries [1]. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (ISTAT), as of January 2013, there were 4,387,721 foreign nationals legally residing in Italy. This number does not include “migrants lacking a regular status” [2]. Has experienced a growing influx of clandestine migrants arriving via sea. These migrants are normally received in equipped ports and, following an initial registration and health assessment, are transferred to immigration centres located across the country. All immigration centres are under the responsibility of the Italian Ministry of Interior which contracts private and public organizations to cater for all internal services including self-managed out-patient health services [4]
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